Strawberry
by Entrancia
Summary: One-shot. Canon. Syaoran and Sakura have gone out for ice cream. But... Sakura is doing something strange with hers. And this is making poor Syaoran feel a bit hot and bothered. Rated for safety.


**A/N**: Yay, my very first one-shot! Since I knew that I couldn't finish the eighth chapter of Forget-Me-Not soon enough, I quickly typed this up. It's kind of for celebrating the one-year anniversary of FMN. I know cuteish-with-a-touch-of-humor one-shots aren't my style (since I'm not a funny person), and I'm not good with fluffy scenes, but will you give it a try? Though I can't help but get the feeling that this sort of story has been done many times before...

Let me know how I did in a review?

**Edit**: I'd like to thank the wonderful MoshiMoshiQueen for giving this fic a moment of her time, and for giving me her advice and insight. According to her, there wasn't much she could help me with, which is an unbelievably huge compliment. Again, thanks very much!

**Disclaimer**: Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. :(

* * *

_**S t r a w b e r r y**_

_**By: Entrancia**_

* * *

Li Syaoran had always thought of himself as a composed, in-control person. But at the moment, he couldn't stand it. He simply could not stand watching her for another second. He tried to look away, but his head wouldn't budge and his eyes refused to move elsewhere. _So much for control,_ he thought to himself.

Beneath the table sat Kerberos in his plush toy form. He was stealthily hidden from public view behind a purse as he devoured the monstrous sundae Syaoran had to buy for him. However comical this scene might be, Syaoran paid the little guardian no heed. He was far more interested in the person seated across from him.

Sakura too was eating ice cream. She had ordered a simple parfait of the classic trio: vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. The chocolate was at the bottom of the glass, followed by strawberry, then vanilla, with whipped cream on top. Unlike Kerberos, who had dived into the frozen treat the moment he got it, she savored hers layer by layer, wanting to taste every bit of the frosty, creamy goodness.

And that just about killed the poor boy stuck watching her.

He stared, slack-jawed, as she dipped her plastic spoon into the glass and came out with a perfect spoonful of vanilla ice cream. She raised it to her mouth, the spoon disappearing between her lusciously pouty lips. He briefly caught sight of the pink of her tongue before she closed her mouth.

"Mmm," she moaned blissfully, swallowing the bite of ice cream.

Syaoran swallowed too, but for an entirely different reason.

"Thanks for the ice cream, Syaoran-kun," Sakura said to him. "It's absolutely delicious!"

He managed to croak, "No problem at all." His mouth was dry, and he suddenly felt uncomfortably hot all over.

Her perfect lips curved into a sweet smile, directing it at him, and then she went back to her ice cream.

Sweet Kami, she was going to be the death of him. He'd taken her out to this café tons of times in the past, and never before did she consume her ice cream so slowly. Then again, he'd never stared at her so avidly, as he was doing now.

He and Sakura began officially dating the day he returned from Hong Kong. Though they frequently held hands, hugged, went out on dates, and exchanged occasional love notes, there was one thing they never did, never even discussed about doing.

In the two years they'd been together, Sakura and Syaoran never once kissed.

Last year, he'd been content with simply holding hands; just being near her presence was enough to make him happy. But Syaoran was a growing boy, and boys at this age tend to see their female friends in newer, stranger ways.

So, of course he wanted to kiss her—oh, boy, did he _want_ to—but whenever the lone thought crossed his mind, he could feel the blush creep up his face, which would bring Sakura to ask, ever-so-innocently, "Is something wrong, Syaoran-kun?" To which Syaoran would respond, unable to prevent his voice from stuttering, "N-n-nothing, S-Sakura." How could he possibly tell her that he wanted very much to pull her to him, to embrace her so intimately that a strand of hair couldn't squeeze between their bodies? How could let her know that he'd love to hold her in his arms and run his fingers through her gorgeous, silky hair, and then give her the most memorable kiss of her life?

He couldn't tell her. Not when he couldn't bear to _think_ about doing those things to her without turning an embarrassing shade of crimson. Not when Sakura showed no signs that she wanted to take their relationship to a deeper level. He would just have to suffer through her many rather odd habits.

For example, _did she ALWAYS eat ice cream like that?_

From where he sat, he could see that there was a bit of vanilla left in her glass before she would hit strawberry. Sakura scooped that bit out, along with the rest of the whipped cream, and slid the spoon into her mouth, twirling it around once before pulling it out. Syaoran held back a groan when he saw some whipped cream smeared on her bottom lip.

_Sakura... whipped cream... her soft, kissable lips..._

His body temperature shot up even more. He almost expected someone to run up to him and try to cook an egg on his face.

Sakura didn't seem to sense his discomfort, but she did notice the whipped cream stuck on her lip. "Oops," she giggled. Her tongue darted out, licking the light cream away very slowly, almost sensually.

Would she do the same to his lips if he kissed her, he thought. Then he wondered if it were possible for a person to die from blushing too much. If the answer was yes, he might just drop dead any moment.

"Are you feeling all right, Syaoran-kun?" the subject of his thoughts asked. "Do you have a fever? Your face is all red." She looked genuinely concerned about him. And her lips looked a little blue from the ice cream. He wanted to warm them with his own...

He shook his head rapidly. "N-no, I'm f-fine," he said.

"But you haven't touched your ice cream," she pointed out.

"Of c-course I d-did." Grabbing his spoon, he quickly dug it into the ice cream before him and shoved a huge hunk into his mouth.

Satisfied, Sakura turned back to her dessert, starting on the strawberry layer of her parfait.

Syaoran forced himself to focus on his bowl and not on the pretty girl across the table. In an attempt to stop his chocolate addiction, he ordered vanilla. Plain, boring, ho-hum vanilla. But just as the girl behind the counter wrote down the order, he caved, telling her to add loads of chocolate chips, chocolate sprinkles, and hot fudge.

The boy sure loved chocolate, almost as much as he loved Sakura.

But after ordering it, even with it laden with chocolate goodies, he didn't feel like eating it. Instead, he had an urgent craving for strawberry ice cream, despite the fact that he wasn't particularly fond of the flavor. He didn't want to watch Sakura eat it, torturing him with her seductive licks. He wanted to taste it himself—through Sakura.

Almost in a trance, he pushed back his seat and got up. He walked around the table to where Sakura sat and stood at her side, obscuring the sunlight with his body.

Sakura set her spoon down in the middle of eating, staring up at him with an incredibly cute, confused look. "Syaoran-kun, is everything oka—mmph!" He hadn't allowed her to finish. He pulled her to her feet, grabbed her shoulders with both hands, and pulled her small body to him, pressing his lips to her cold ones, muffling her words. Instantly after, she shut up.

He was kissing Sakura, kissing her unbelievably sweet lips. It all came naturally to him, even though it was his first time. He didn't try anything with his tongue, which he thought might be too much for his chaste Sakura. It probably would be too much for him—he already felt like fainting. And for seven seconds, he was floating on Cloud 9.

Then he pulled back, face flushed. Sakura's cheeks were a little pink, too. He instinctively licked his lips, tasting a hint of the sweet strawberry ice cream she had been eating, and that was nearly enough to make him kiss her again. But he restrained himself. He lifted his head reluctantly, scared of what Sakura's reaction would be. She was blinking those bright green eyes of hers, a little dazedly.

"I'm sorry," he blurted. She hated him, he was sure, for forcing himself on her. Now she'd end their two-year relationship, all because he couldn't control his budding hormones.

She only slowly shook her head. Her lips had lost their bluish tinge from the kiss. "Don't be," she said, smiling serenely at him, giving no indication that she wanted to leave him. "That was nice, Syaoran-kun." She leaned up a bit and gave him a light kiss on his cheek, then reseated herself.

Syaoran didn't quite comprehend what just happened. So he just stayed put in a daze, his hand touching the area where she kissed him.

Kero chose that moment to surface, an empty bowl in his little arms. He was entirely unaware of what had been going on. "Sakura," he said, "tell the brat to buy me more—hey, what's wrong with him?"

Sakura waved him away. "I'll get you something, Kero-chan. Go back to hiding a little bit longer, okay?"

"What kind of something?" He was suspicious.

"Whatever you want."

Content, he yelled happily, "Yay, more ice cream!" and ducked back to the World Below The Table.

Only when Sakura spoke again did Syaoran find himself able to move. She said to him, "Aren't you going to finish eating?"

At this inquiry, Syaoran nodded vaguely. He found his seat and looked down at his ice cream. All of a sudden his appetite for it returned, and he picked up his spoon.

* * *

He could be imagining it, but Sakura seemed a tad cheerier—if that were possible—as he walked her home later. And when Syaoran himself got back to his apartment, he decided that he was no longer addicted to chocolate.

Because strawberries were so much better.

* * *

Later that same day, Sakura dialed her best friend's number. It rang twice, then she heard the _click_ of someone picking up the phone on the other end.

_"Yes, Daidouji residence?"_

"Tomoyo-chan, your plan worked," Sakura said giddily.

_"Oh, did it really." _Tomoyo didn't sound surprised. In fact, when they formulated The Plan, the dark-haired girl had seemed absolutely sure it would work, as though she knew Syaoran would crack. After two long years of waiting for Syaoran to cave, he finally did. And all it took was some prompting.

"Yup. It did, exactly how you said it would. You sure know how boys function."

_"That's wonderful, Sakura-chan."_

There was a pause from Sakura. "But you _were_ wrong about one thing," she said.

_"Oh? And what would that be?"_

Sakura giggled into the phone. "Syaoran-kun didn't even wait for me to get to his favorite flavor."


End file.
